Wednesday, 10 December 2008

Future Worlds Center joins with other Human Rights activists to celebrate of the International Human Rights Day.

This year's International Human Rights Day is of special significance as it marks the 60th anniversary celebrations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which represented the first step in establishing a comprehensive international framework for the protection of human rights. Today the Universal Declaration is one of the fundamental texts establishing respect for human rights as a guiding principle in international relations. The year 2008 also witnesses the 15th anniversary of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action proclaimed by the Vienna World Conference on Human Rights as well as the 10th anniversary of the adoption by the UN General Assembly of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.

The UNThis theme for 2008, “Dignity and justice for all of us,” reinforces the vision of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) as a commitment to universal dignity and justice. It is not a luxury or a wish-list. The UDHR and its core values, inherent human dignity, non-discrimination, equality, fairness and universality, apply to everyone, everywhere and always. The Declaration is universal, enduring and vibrant, and it concerns us all.Since its adoption in 1948, the Declaration has been and continues to be a source of inspiration for national and international efforts to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms.

The EUHuman rights lie at the heart of the EU’s external relations and development policy, as it is underlined by the engagement of the EU in a worldwide campaign against the death penalty, by the key role played by the EU in the fight against torture as well as by the promotion of universality of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.Within the framework of the EU’s human rights policy in third countries, the Commission is committed to advancing the situation of human rights worldwide through various tools, such as participation in EU human rights dialogues and consultations as well as in political dialogues with the authorities of third countries at different levels. Moreover, Commission Delegations regularly report on the human rights situation in third countries. Finally, through the European Instrument on Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR, the Commission funds NGOs worldwide working to promote human rights, in areas such as the fight against the death penalty, torture, the support to human rights defenders and to grassroots organisations.

CyprusAccording to the Amnesty International Report 2008, foreign nationals, including migrants and asylum-seekers, were held in detention for unacceptably long periods and in poor conditions without access to a judicial or other independent review. Some reported being beaten by police upon arrest or by guards once detained. Asylum-seekers reported a number of irregularities in the asylum procedure that could have jeopardized their applications or their families at home. An organization supporting and advising migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers was the target of a racist attack and its chairperson charged in connection with its fundraising activities.

Monday, 8 December 2008

The Hotline in Cyprus, operating under the name “SafenetCY” has completed 18 months at the end of August. The new project was launched in September 2008 as a combined Awareness Node, Hotline and Helpline. The Awareness Node and the Hotline will continue to be operated by the Cyprus Neuroscience & Technology Institute whereas the Helpline will be operated by the Pancyprian Coordinating Committee for the Protection and Welfare of Children (PCCPWC). Other partners include CYTA, the public telecommunications company, the Ministry of Education and a Turkish Cypriot NGO, Olive Branch. An enhanced cooperation with the Cyber-Crime Unit of the Police has been re-established after the dramatic increase in Child Pornography cases investigated in Cyprus. Specifically, the Cyber-Crime Unit has recorded the following statistics regarding the Child Pornography cases investigated in Cyprus since 2004:• 2004 – 8 cases investigated• 2005 – 16 cases investigated• 2006 – 24 cases investigated• 2007 – 34 cases investigated• 2008 – 61 cases investigatedThis dramatic increase in the number of cases investigated by the Police has started to concern deeply the local authorities and the Government. The National Advisory Board has decided to involve the authorities more and also to promote the Hotline to the wider public and to the schools. The authorities have also demonstrated increased interest to support the efforts of the CyberEthics Awareness Node and the SafenetCY Hotline.

When and where:To be held on Thursday June 11th 2009, London School of Economics, London

Conference theme:Are all children benefiting equally from the Internet and if not, why not? How strong is the evidence for the risks to children of going on-line? Are these risks changing, and why do they differ from one country to another? How can parents and policy makers achieve a better balance between on-line opportunities and risks? What do children themselves think of the Internet? What new literacies are they developing?

The conference will report the final results and recommendations from three year's work by EU Kids Online, a network of over 60 researchers in 21 countries, funded by the EC's Safer Internet plus Programme. See www.eukidsonline.net

Keynote speakers will be announced shortly.

Call for papers:The conference will showcase the latest current research being conducted in Europe and worldwide. Researchers are invited to submit empirical papers about children's experience of the Internet on any of these topics:* Social networks, on-line identities and e-participation* Learning, creativity and media literacy* Mobility, computer games and other emerging platforms* Parental and peer mediation* Risks, victims and perpetrators* Regulation, empowerment and protection

Registration and submission details:Registration and submission will begin in early January. See http://www.eukidsonline.net for further details. There is no conference fee.

We look forward to welcoming you to LSE to celebrate the end of our project and to debate the future agenda for research and for evidence-based policy.

Sonia LivingstoneProfessor and Director of Graduate StudiesS105, Department of Media and CommunicationsLondon School of Economics and Political ScienceHoughton Street, London WC2A 2AE, UKProject Director, EUKidsOnline, see www.eukidsonline.netNew: The International Handbook of Children, Media and Culture (Sage2008)

On 1st December 2008, the Insafe network launched its first global activity for Safer Internet Day 2009, 10 February 2009, namely a quiz available in 22 languages!The Insafe quiz http://insafequiz.eun.org addresses young people between 10 and 15 years of age, and requires them to answer a series of multiple choice questions on the media, internet safety, culture, history and geography followed by a final challenge. The variety of questions asked reflects the Internet's value as a tool for learning and finding information!The aim of the quiz is to reach out to young Internet users and build momentum for the approaching Safer Internet Day (SID). This event will be celebrated in more than 50 countries worldwide on 10 February 2009. The European winners of the quiz will be invited to attend the SID celebrations in Luxembourg.The 2009 quiz is available in Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, German, Greek, English, Finnish, French, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish and Swedish.For updates, see: www.saferinternet.org

About Insafe:The mission of the Insafe cooperation network is to empower citizens to use the internet, as well as other online technologies, positively, safely and effectively. The network calls for shared responsibility for the protection of the rights and needs of citizens, in particular children and youths, by government, educators, parents, media, industry and all other relevant actors. Insafe partners work closely together to share best practice, information and resources. The network interacts with industry, schools and families in the aim of empowering people to bridge the digital divide between home and school and between generations.

To celebrate Data Protection Day on 28 January 2009, EUN in collaboration with Microsoft just launched a new competition, inviting young people aged 15 to 19 years old to express their views and concerns about on-line privacy. Winners will be invited in Brussels to meet eminent jury members and take part in the Data Protection Day events where they will be awarded prizes.Most of us often upload information on-line without giving much thought to whether this is personal data and how this information might be accessed or used in the future. This competition aims at raising awareness on the importance of protecting private information, especially in new web 2.0 environments such as social networking sites and blogs. From 17 November 2008 to 15 January 2009, pupils in teams that shall not exceed six persons, and supervised by a teacher or another youth leader are invited to create a 30-90 seconds video of 10 MB maximum to illustrate the theme “Surf the net – think privacy!”. Schools from different European countries are also invited to work together. A special prize for the purchase of equipment will reward the best “tandem video”. As entries start coming in, you can visit the on-line competition gallery to rate the uploaded entries. The winning videos will be featured during the prize award ceremony.If you feel concerned about the use of your personal information and privacy risks on-line, and would like to share your thoughts about this in a creative way, please visit our website: www.dataprotectionday.eu

The recently presented survey ‘e-cypriot 08’ on the activities of Cypriots on the Internet was conducted by OgilvyOne and the research company Evresis. The survey was conducted across Cyprus in a final sample of 969 Internet users, aged 13 years and above, with the methodology of random multistage stratified sampling. The data was collected through telephone interviews from October 23 until November 6 2008.The survey revealed that many Cypriots use the Internet for shopping purchasing mainly clothing and books. The main products that Cypriots purchase on-line are clothes at 32.6 per cent and books at 28.3 per cent. ‘e-cypriot 08’ showed 49.1 per cent of Cypriots who make on-line purchases spend more than €250 a year, and 12.7 per cent spends more than €1,000. Asked whether they had purchased products from the Internet within the last week, 16.8 per cent answered yes. Moreover, the on-line behaviors of Cypriots range from obtaining general information at 54.6 per cent, for entertainment (45.1 per cent) and sports news (31.1 per cent). According to the findings, the percentage of the population aged 13 or older who uses the Internet amounts to 41.2 per cent. The greatest use of the Internet is seen in the workplace; according to the survey, 53.8 per cent of the working people surveyed claim that they only use the Internet at the office.

On November 7, 2008 the New Media lab presented research at the 7th European Conference on E-Learning (ECEL). The research examined 'How much Personal and Sensitive Information do Cypriot Teenagers Reveal in Facebook?' The study showed that Cypriot teenagers disclose personal information about themselves and do not keep their Facebook settings on private, oblivious to the dangers that result from these actions. The premise of this research came from the raising awareness that web-based social networks have become increasingly popular over the past few years. With over 60 million active users worldwide, Facebook has become a major meeting portal for people of all ages, especially teenagers. This network offers attractive means for communication and interaction, but also raises security and privacy concerns.Previous studies that have proven that young people are aware of what type of personal data they disclose in social networking environments reveal not only a high level of concern but also a high level of ignorance. Major concerns revolve around the possibility of sexual predators and pedophiles finding and then assaulting adolescents who carelessly or unwittingly reveal identifiable information on their personal profile pages. Nevertheless, privacy concerned individuals join networks and reveal a great amount of personal information. For example, although members are concerned about privacy issues in Facebook they are willing to share identifying information and develop new relationships where the perceived privacy level is weak. Moreover, only a minimal percentage of users change the highly permeable privacy preferences. However, currently no research is available concerning numbers, behavior, and perceptions of young Cypriot people using Facebook. In the context of the European safer Internet project “EU Kids Online,” this study explored how the youth of Cyprus use social networking sites, on the example of Facebook.The New Media Lab of CNTI evaluated the amount of information youngsters disclose in Facebook and studied their usage of the site's privacy settings. They sought to empirically ascertain the types of information Cypriot youth are publicly posting through an extensive content analysis of randomly selected Facebook profile pages. For each member, various types of disclosed personal and sensitive information were analyzed, for example name, gender, profile picture, and contact information. Other parameters involved quantification of activities published, such as number of personal photos uploaded, membership in groups etc. Preliminary results show that Cypriot Facebook youth members are also willing to share personal information as the majority of the participants published their full name, gender, birthday and hometown. In addition, Cypriot youth actively use Facebook and its possibilities with activities such as joining groups, supporting causes, and using applications. Surprisingly, Cypriots are less likely to disclose contact details.

Tuesday, 2 December 2008

Future Worlds Center is organising a Christmas gift collection to support the families of refugees and asylum seekers in Cyprus. We kindly request that all gifts are wrapped and that you indicate the age and gender of the child for which the present is intended (ages 0-14).

This Christmas let us all give some joy to the children of these families by offering them a present.

For further information please contact us on tel: 22 873820 fax: 22 873821.

Future Worlds Center in cooperation with the Unit for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture (URVT) and with the support of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in Cyprus offers free legal advice to refugees and asylum seekers as well as free legal, social and psychological support to victims of torture and their families.